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Skip John Morris throws a rock en route to winning the B.C. Men's Curling Championships at the Vancouver Curling Club in Vancouver on February 9, 2014.

Photograph by: Mark van Manen
, PNG

And Canada’s newest curling star Brad Jacobs, the 2013 champion, is home basking in the glory of his team’s gold-medal win in Sochi a week ago.

But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a strong group of contenders on hand — and with broom in hand — as the 2014 edition of the Tim Hortons Brier gets underway Saturday afternoon in Kamloops at the Interior Savings Centre.

Two-time world champion Jeff Stoughton of Manitoba, 2010 world champion Kevin Koe of Alberta and 2006 Olympic gold medallist Brad Gushue of Newfoundland are in the 12-team field as is former Martin third John Morris, who now is skipping the veteran B.C. rink that has Vernon-based Jim Cotter throwing fourth stones.

“There’s some great teams and we’re going to have to be sharp, we’re going to have to play the best we’ve ever played,” says Cotter, a Kamloops native who went 4-7 as a skip at both the 2011 and 2012 Briers.

“Hopefully we can do that and at the end of the week, hopefully sneak into the playoffs. Then you never know what can happen.”

Morris, a two-time Brier champion with Martin, left that rink after last season and joined up with Cotter and the front end of Rick Sawatsky and Tyrell Griffith. They made it to the final of the Olympic trials where they lost to Jacobs and then went 6-0 last month at the B.C. championship.

Morris, who meets Koe in the opening draw Saturday at 1:30 p.m., said that with Saskatchewan’s Steve Laycock and 2006 Brier champ Jean-Michel Menard in the field, “there’s five or six teams that can win it.

“And I don’t think a lot of people expected Jacobs to win it last year and all of a sudden he comes through with the victory. There’s a lot of teams like that on the cusp of really breaking through on the men’s side. We’ve got to make sure we’re prepared for every game.”

Morris, who is just the third player to represent three different provinces at a Brier, says he’s jacked up to play before a home crowd in his newly adopted province.

He’s played Briers at home before, in Edmonton and Calgary with Martin’s Alberta team. He also recalls losing a 2001 Ontario provincial final in Ottawa, which is where he grew up.

“We lost the final to Wayne Middaugh, in an extra end. It crushed me, eh. My friends and my whole family were there. That was crushing. But it’s always more fun when you’re playing in front of a home crowd. And we’re really going to try to give them something to cheer for (in Kamloops). I think we’ve got a dynamite chance. And it would be great to see a ton of B.C. supporters because this is going to be a special Brier.”

Two other veteran rinks are back, with James Grattan of New Brunswick making his 11th appearance and Jamie Koe of the Northwest Territories/Yukon making his sixth consecutive appearance.

The other teams are Greg Balsdon of Ontario, which put an end to Howard’s run of eight consecutive provincial championships, Eddie MacKenzie of Prince Edward Island, Jamie Murphy of Nova Scotia and Jeff Currie of Northern Ontario.

Stoughton, 50, will have some fond memories of Kamloops. It’s where the 11-time Brier participant won the first of his three titles. He will also be looking to make amends after losing to Jacobs in last year’s final.

To help give his team a little spark this year, he had his front end of Mark Nichols and Reid Carruthers swap positions.

“We thought if we get that little two or three extra percentage out of both of them at different positions, it might put us over the top,” Stoughton recently told the Winnipeg Sun.

Nichols thinks the Manitoba representative should be the favourite.

“We’ve had a couple of great years together. We won a Canada Cup, a Grand Slam event, two provincial championships and lost the final at the Brier. We’ve been one of the top teams every week, so I’ve got no problem saying we’re one of the favourites.”

Just how much of a favourite Stoughton will be should come into clearer focus Thursday morning when his quartet faces the Morris foursome in the penultimate game of the round robin for both.

The four-rink Page Playoffs begin next Friday. The final is Sunday, March 9.

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